Waste Not Want Not: Uses for Banana Peels

Uses for Banana Peels

One of my goals this year is to find new uses for things that I would otherwise throw away. I would never want it to get to the point where I keeping useless things though so I’ve been busy trying to discover uses for all kinds of new things and if I find that they don’t have a use, it’s time to toss them.

Something I always tend to have a lot of is banana peels. Bananas are a cheaper fruit, even the organic kind is less than $1 per pound and I love to dry them in my food dehydrator for a delicious healthy snack. (Dried bananas are a great snack in case you didn’t know! I make them in large batches and freeze what I can’t eat right away. I love the quick energy they give.)

I’ve learned that there are so many great uses for banana peels, I’m definitely not tossing them in the trash anymore!

Here are some great way to use up those old banana peels. And with most of these uses you can use either use fresh banana peels or peels off of bananas that have been frozen.

Freshen up a smokey car.

If you recently purchased the car of a smoker, you know how difficult it is to try and removed the smell. Instead of covering it up with air fresheners, stick a banana peel on a plate inside the vehicle. You may have to use a few banana peels over a few days but it will eventually help with the smell!

Use banana peels as mulch or fertilizer.

Because of all of the great minerals in banana peels (potassium, magnesium, and more), they make a great mulch for your garden. Set the peels out in the sun for a few days undisturbed so they can dry. When they are completely dry, grind them up in the food processor or blender. Sprinkle this dried mixture around your plants and mix with the soil. You can also use this dried banana to make a fertilizer for your inside plants here’s my recipe for Banana Peel Fertilizer Spray.

Make aphid spray.

Using some of the dried banana peels that you made for the mulch above, place equal amounts of dried banana peel, coffee grounds, and egg shells in a spray bottle. Fill the bottle the rest of the way with water and shake until the pieces dissolve. Spray on plants that are having aphid issues, it works great!

Chicken and compost feed.

Of course one great use for banana peels is always to feed them to your chickens as scraps or toss them in your compost pile. The minerals are great for your flock!

Help remove a splinter.

Place a small piece of banana piece over the area where the splinter is located. Put a bandage over the top of the peel so it stays in place. Keep this on for a few hours and it should help the splinter to start to come out so you can remove it. This method also works for removing warts as well.

Burns

Thanks to reader Marissa C. for this tip! Reader Marissa grew up in Central America, and it is an old wise tail that banana peels are good for burns. YES, for burns! She keeps some in my freezer in a large ziplock and with seran wrap in between each one and when she gets a burn she places each banana peel over the burn for 15 minutes until the pain subsides.

Relieve itchy skin.

If you happen to get a bug bite, poison ivy, or another kind of itchy rash and have bananas on hand…place the peel over the itchy area to help relieve the itch.

Use it to polish your silver.

This one seems crazy but trust me, it works! Take a banana peel and rub the inside over your silver that needs to be cleaned. Wipe it off with a damp rag and then buff with a soft cloth.

I’ve seen some other uses for banana peels out there but I haven’t tried them yet. My favorite use though so far is using the dried banana peels for fertilizer! I love it because it actually works and you can easily make it from something you would otherwise toss in the trash.

What are some of your favorite uses for banana peels? Have you tried any of the above?

Merissa

Reader Interactions

Comments

I save my peels in a zip bag in the freezer and when I plant I throw a third of a peel in the plant hole first then put in the plant. This year I’m doing this with our potatoes. It and also be used with tomatoes and peppers and egg plant-probably any thing you plant. I have also heard that if you plant roses in a planter add a banana peel before the bush and your rose will thrive and even over winter better. My daughter tried this-one rose bush she did this one she did not and one thrived and one died.

I had just heard about the wart one and throw mine in the compost bin but had no idea about all these uses! Thanks for sharing with Small Victories Sunday. Pinning to our linky board and my gardening and green cleaning boards too!

What great tips! I only ever use them for compost or the pigs 😉 but these are great tips I must try! Love the aphid spray, have you used that yourself yet? We live on an organic farm, so anything I can use to help with bugs that is chemical free – I’m in! x

I decided to try your Banana Fertilizer recipie’ Warning, do not put
them outside to dry’ The birds and other critters will carry them off or
destroy them. I have some inside drying now,Takes a lot longer to dry,but now I’m about to try to make the Fertilizer’

How cool! I learned about the splinter trick recently, when my son had a bad run-in with an old fence, but I have never heard of the aphid spray! That will totally be useful. Thanks so much for sharing, and your post will be featured in tonight’s What’d You Do This Weekend. Pinning 🙂

I have chronic migraines. I will use a cold banana peel (inside to my skin) on my forehead instead of a cool wet rag. I can’t honestly say that it helps me with the migraines (though some people report that it does help), but it certainly doesn’t hurt. The coolness offers some relief.

Love these ideas! Never heard of most of them. I usually compost banana peels, but I think it’s important to emphasize that when using banana peels for mulch or fertilizer, to use organic bananas because the regularly cultivated type are heavily sprayed with chemicals while they’re growing.

No suggestions about banana peels, however, I saw a demonstration on peeling a banana the ‘right’ way! It turns out I’ve been opening them from the wrong end all these years.
Apparently, apes and monkeys pinch the tip of the fruit end instead of breaking off the stem end. After giving the primate method a try I can verify it’s ease and effectiveness.

I also saw in a film once ( can’t remember much about it ) where a very young girl on a street in India followed banana-eating tourists around to get their banana skins. She separated the pith from the skin ( rind? ) and fed it to the toddler boy she led around with her.

Found you via pinterest. Spending lots of time looking around and learning! Just moved our suburban family of 10 to a 28 acre farm. We’ve been milking a cow for 3 weeks now—-never in my wildest dreams—but we love it! Our cow LOVE banana peels. And they are so funny to watch, we hold them up, and they wrap their tongue around them.

They work well on bruises too – from what I remember, peel side down and leave on for a long time (or overnight). Learned this when I used to donate plasma and my red blood cells were returned under my skin instead of into my vein. I had a horrid bruise for weeks 🙁

I’ve been searching the web for an answer to this but haven’t been able to find anything. Can anyone tell me if freezing the peel will still work on your skin or does it lose the benefits after freezing? I’d like to keep some on hand for future use.

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Welcome to Little House Living! My name is Merissa and it’s nice to meet you! Here you can learn how to make the most with what you have. Whether that’s learning how to cook from scratch, checking out creative ways to save money, and learn how to live simply. I’m glad you’ve found your way here. Make sure to keep in touch by contacting me with questions and signing up for our newsletters.